Call In The Expert
by dolphinz.amazon
Summary: "When the police are out of their depth, they consult me," Sherlock had said. But what about when Sherlock was out of his depth? What then? That's when it's time to ask an even greater genius for help. Sherlock must call in the expert.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh, good. I've been bored out of my mind lately. What have you got to entertain me?" Sherlock asked as Lestrade walked in.

"We've been over this, Sherlock. Murder is not entertainment. We don't do anything for entertainment, Sherlock. We work for justice."

"Maybe you do, but I don't. I'm bored, and I need a case to entertain me. Do you have one or not?" LeStrade sighed.

"Fine. I do have a case for you. Do you want it or not?"

"What's the case?"

"Serial murder. The cause of death is undetermined, and the link between victims is confusing and almost nonexistent."

"I'll take it. What else do I need to know?"

"The cause of death, as close as we can tell, is some sort of electric shock to the heart. Except it's not like our regular electricity. We don't know what it is, just that it's some kind of energy. At first, we couldn't find any other link between the victims."

"How do you know they are related then? It could be a coincidence."

"Upon closer examination, the bodies of the victims all had one thing in common."

"What's that?"

"Black tally marks. All of them had the marks on their hands. Some of them had marks on other places, too. The third victim had tally marks all over her body, on every (exposed) part of skin, even her face."

"How many victims?"

"Five so far. And the fifth is unusual."

"How so?"

"We're not even sure it's related. The fifth victim has no tally marks at all. And he was killed by a gunshot."

"So why would this murder be connected?"

"Someone saw the murder, and called us. The murderer was caught and brought here. She has the tally marks on her right arm. Quite a lot of them, actually. And of course she has them on her hands."

"Fascinating. Shall we go?" Lestrade nodded. "Lead on, then," Sherlock said.

•••

"So, what did you want to start with?" "I'd like to see the victims first."

"Molly's over there. I'm sure she'd be happy to show you around the morgue." Molly nodded and Sherlock came over.

"Good to see you, Sherlock. It's been a long time."

"Too long. I'm glad I've got a new case. So, where are the victims?" Molly led him over to a row of people. She pointed at the first person, a man in his mid-twenties with tally marks on his hands and a few marks on his left arm. He held a black Sharpie in his right hand, his fist tightly clenched. "Are they all like this?" She nodded and showed him another. This one was a woman. The marks were all over her skin, and she had a black Sharpie hanging around her neck. "I see. And where's the latest victim?" Molly showed him a man with a clear gunshot wound in his chest.

"Shot in the heart. Different from the others. No energy surge. No markings. No pen." Sherlock nodded.

"Very strange. Thank you, Molly, you've shown me everything I need to see here."


	2. Chapter 2

"Are you ready to see the witnesses?"

"Of course. Who's first?"

"This man saw the third murder," LeStrade said, pointing to a tall man completely covered in black tally marks.

"Excellent," Sherlock said. He went with the witness into the interrogation room. "So, first things first. What is the pen for?" He pointed to the pen around the man's neck.

"It's for making the tally marks," he replied, pointing at the marks on his skin.

"And what are the marks for?"

"To know if I've seen one."

"One what?"

"One... I don't remember," he said dazedly. "Something important. Something bad. Something. If I see one, I make a mark."

"So you saw a lot of them, then?"

"I must have. Funny thing is, I don't remember. But there must have been a lot, or I wouldn't have all these marks."

"When would this have happened?"

"Same time as the murder, I guess. Like I said, I don't remember."

"And what about the murder? You saw it?"

"Yeah." "So what happened?"

"I don't remember. I heard something and saw a flash of light and I looked at where it was coming from and saw... I don't remember what I saw. It was bad, though. Then I looked away and she was dead. I ran over to her, because I'm a doctor, you know, I thought I might to be able to save her. Her heart had stopped. I tried CPR. Nothing. She was dead. I called the police and they took the woman away and took me as a witness. I'm just glad they didn't take me as a suspect."

"Very strange. Is that all?"

"Yeah, that's all I can remember. Can I go now?"

"I should think so, unless the police want something else with you."

"All right, then I'm off."

"Thank you."

•••

"What did you find out?"

"I'm not sure how much of it is true. It was all very strange. Are there any more witnesses?"

"This woman saw the fourth murder," Lestrade replied, leading Sherlock over to her.

"Excellent," he replied.

"Let's go." They went into the room.

•••

"I see you have black tally marks on your hands. How did those get there?"

"I drew them."

"With what?"

"This," she replied, holding up a black marker in her hand.

"Do you always carry that with you?" She nodded.

"Past few weeks, I've started carrying it with me. I need it."

"For what?"

"I... I don't know. For marking myself."

"And what do the marks mean?"

"I don't know. Bad. Something bad. If I mark myself, something bad is there. I can't remember what."

"All right then. Tell me about the murder."

"I don't remember."

"You don't remember."

"That's right."

"Nothing at all? Not a single detail to help us?"

"Nope, sorry. I was there, but I don't remember what happened. I only remember seeing the dead body."

"I suppose that's all then. You may go."


	3. Chapter 3

"Find anything?" Lestrade asked.

"No, nothing useful."

"So you don't know anything?"

"It appears I am out of my depth here."

"The great Sherlock Holmes, out of his depth?"

"Shut up, John."

"Now what?" John asked, ignoring Sherlock's request.

"Now it is time to call in an expert."

"And who might that be?" Lestrade asked.

•••

Sherlock said nothing. He merely pulled out his phone and began dialing. "Hello? Of course, who else? It's good to hear you, too. Your voice sounds different. Oh, I should have guessed. No, you know me too well. Of course. Well, it's kind of difficult to explain. The case. Yes. Fine, I need your help with a case. Because it seems... I don't know, extraterrestrial. I think aliens might be involved. Who? No, we haven't called them yet. Can't you come help us? Busy? Since when are you too busy to help a friend. A brother. Since when are you too busy to help your family? Okay, that does sound pretty nasty, I'll give you that. Right then, I'll call them, but promise me this: if they can't help, you will. Got it? Good. I'll call you back if we need your help. All right. Bye."

"Mycroft?" John asked.

"Of course not. Why would it be Mycroft?" Sherlock replied tersely.

"Well you did say 'brother'," Lestrade pointed out. Sherlock gave Watson a knowing look.

"It's... complicated. The point is, he might be able to help. But there are a few other people he wanted to ask first. Do we have contact with Torchwood?"

"How does he know about Torchwood? It's top secret!"

"It doesn't matter how he knows. Do we have contact?"

"Yes."

"Call them."

•••

"You've reached the main call center for Torchwood. To ask about alien technology, press 1. To borrow alien technology stored at our facility, press 2. To ask about job opportunities, press 3. To warn of possible danger with aliens or alien technology, press 4. To offer an invention for the benefit of Torchwood industries, press 5. To give us a piece of alien technology you have found, press 6. To report an alien sighting, press 7. To access our files on technology, press 8. To access our files on aliens, press 9."

"Finally!" Sherlock punched 9. "Which alien did you wish to know about?" Sherlock realized he didn't know the name of the aliens. "Press 1 to go back," the recording said helpfully. Sherlock pressed 1. "You've reached the main call center for Torchwood. To ask about..." Sherlock pressed 7.

"Hello, this is Captain Jack Harkness from Torchwood. Describe the alien you saw in as much detail as possible."

"Well... um... I didn't actually see it."

"Then describe its victims in as much detail as possible."

"They have black tally marks on their bodies. The cause of death is a shock to the heart. We can't identify the type of energy. It's not something we use here on earth."

"Is that all?"

"That's it."

"Well then sorry, but I can't help you. None of our records match your description." Sherlock jabbed his finger on the screen to hang up.

"I miss the days of telephones that weren't mobile, when you could slam down the receiver to hang up. Much more satisfying." Watson chuckled at that remark.

•••

"So now what?"

"Well, we could also call UNIT."

"We can," Lestrade said. "But I don't think they'll be able to help. They care more about shooting aliens than cataloging them. Their database is even smaller than Torchwood's. Still, it's worth a try." He dialed a number on the phone and handed it to Sherlock. Again he described the aliens, or rather, the victims, and again he got no result. Sherlock slammed the phone on the table.

"Idiots, all of them. A great big bunch of idiots!"

"Calm down, Sherlock. The murder won't get solved by shouting." Sherlock glared at Watson. "Don't give me that look, you know I'm right. Ah. That's what the look is for. Well stop it, you big baby. Anyway, that means it's time to call your friend again, right?"


	4. Chapter 4

Sherlock sighed and picked up the phone. "Hello again. Yes, I know you're busy. I'm busy too. We need your help. Yes, I called them. Neither of them could help. Yes, that's what I said. What's that? Not even me? That's not fair! Fine. I promise. How are you going to find us? Oh, of course. Yes, I am. Are you coming or not? How about 10 seconds? Tell me when to start the countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1..."

"Hello, everybody!" Said a man with a bow tie as he stepped out of the blue box that had suddenly appeared in the room. "I'm the Doctor." Watson looked up at the Doctor's head.

"What is that?"

"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool." Sherlock stared at him.

"You are not keeping that."

"Oh yes I am."

"Says who?"

"Says me. And I get to decide, remember? Or would you rather I just pop back in the TARDIS and London can fend for itself?"

"Fine, you can keep the fez."

"Good. Now then, I know Watson-" Watson gave a confused look at this, until Sherlock whispered "regeneration" in his ear. "-but who are you people?"

"Greg Lestrade, chief inspector of Scotland Yard."

"Sally Donnovan, police officer and detective."

"Anderson, and I think you should ditch the bow tie."

"Bow ties. Are. Cool."

"And the fez."

"Out. I don't want to hear any more from you. You are no longer involved in this case."

"He can't do that!" Lestrade exclaimed as Anderson walked out.

"Actually, he can. He said he'd help us on the condition of being in charge. He has final say."

"So our only hope of solving this murder is an eccentric, bossy man with absolutely no fashion sense?"

"Hello," the Doctor said. "And actually, I do have fashion sense; it's just too complicated for you to understand."

"Right," said Donnovan sarcastically.

"Shut up. Or do I have to take you off this case, too?"


	5. Chapter 5

"Right then. First of all, what's the case? What do we know already?" the Doctor asked.

"People are dying from some sort of unidentified charge; a shock to the heart," Lestrade began.

"Daleks?"

"No, we've got that signature on file now. It doesn't match."

"What else? Do we know what it looks like?" Sherlock shook his head.

"All the witnesses we've asked say they can't remember what it looks like."

"What?"

"They can't remember. Is that important?"

"Very. So they forget the appearance of it?"

"And any details about it at all really. They only know that it exists; they forget any other details."

"Hm. Anything else?"

"Well, the victims have black tally marks on their bodies." "Right then, I think I know what the culprit is."

"What? Not who?"

"Yes, what. Now then, I want to talk to a witness."

"Wait, hang on," Lestrade said. "I forgot to show you the murderer. The one with the tally marks, when the victim had none."

"Let's go!"


	6. Chapter 6

"What do you want with me?" the woman asked, striding confidently around the room.

"To know the truth."

"Ha!"

"Tell us what happened," Sherlock insisted. "Why did you kill that man?" The woman pulled out her gun and pointed it at him.

"Ask me again."

"Did you see anything? What did you see?" She turned her gun to Lestrade, who had just spoken.

"Why are you pointing your gun at us?" the Doctor asked. She looked confused.

"I... I don't know. When you asked me why I killed the man, something just sort of... kicked in." The Doctor's face went white.

"So you don't want to kill us?" asked Sherlock. She nodded.

"But you will," Lestrade added. She nodded again.

"I think it would be best for all of us if you refrained from asking questions now."

"Lock her up and keep her away from everyone. Take away her weapon. And above all, don't let anyone ask her any questions," the Doctor ordered. "Great. Now Lestrade, you said you could show me one of the witnesses?" He nodded. "All right then, let's go."

•••

The woman who had witnessed the fourth murder walked in.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor. I want to ask you a few questions. First of all, what are the marks for?"

"To know if I've seen one."

"One what?"

"I don't know. It's something bad. I can't remember what it is, just that I mark myself if I've seen one."

"I see. And when did you see them?"

"I think I saw some at the time of the murder. I saw something I don't remember, and then I saw the dead body. As I went over to examine, I noticed that both of us had these black tally marks on our bodies. I would have asked him about it, but he was dead."

•••

The Doctor took out his cell phone and pulled up a picture. He showed it to the woman. "Is this what you saw?" She nodded. "Keep looking at it. The rest of you, don't look at it. I want you to remember what I'm telling her. Now then, listen carefully. When you look away, I want you to straighten my bow tie," he said, twisting his bow tie so that it was off center. "Got it? Good. Now first, a little bit of information. This is a Silent. The Silence is a religious movement, believing that silence will fall when the question is asked. Don't ask me what question, I don't know. Anyway, they are very secret. The moment you look away, they edit themselves out of your memory, but you do whatever they told you to do. They've been meddling in human history for centuries and no-one even knows. You make black tally marks on your body if you see one; that's the only way to know if they're there. Now you're going to forget that information very soon," he said, looking at the woman. "but the rest of you will remember. Now then, that's all. You can look away." She did, and immediately straightened the Doctor's bow tie.

"What did you do that for?" Watson asked.

"I don't know," she said, looking very confused. "Why did I do that?"

"Because I asked you to. But you don't remember that. The rest of you do, though, right?" They nodded. "Good. Now that we all know what we're dealing with here, we have to figure out how to kill them."

"Can't you just tell us to kill them while we look at the photo? Like you did with the bow tie?"

"No, it doesn't work like that. But now that you mention it..." He pulled out his phone again and pulled up a video. "Watch this, everyone." A Silent faced the camera and told them "You should kill us all on sight." The Doctor put his phone back in his pocket.

"So that's it?" Watson asked. "Just wait till we see them and then kill them?"

"Do you have a better plan?"

"No."

"Well then, how about we stick to my plan?" Watson sighed. "All right, I think that's about all. I'll be off then."


	7. Chapter 7

"Wait!"

"Yes, Mr. Holmes?"

"Don't call me Mr. Holmes, that makes me think of my brother. Ugh. Just call me Sherlock."

"Sorry, Sherlock. What was it you wanted to say?"

"We already knew the what and the when. We answered the who and the how. But we still don't have the why. Why would the Silence murder these people?"

"Excellent question. Does anybody know?"

"No," said Lestrade. "Enlighten us."

"That's what I'm asking you. Do the victims have anything in common? Anything at all?" Blank stares. "Come on, there must be something." More blank stares.

"Wait, I've got it!" exclaimed Watson. Everyone stared at him. "They all said or wrote something about the Silence. The Silence don't want the secret about them to get out." "Oh, Watson, you're brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Sherlock said. Watson beamed.

"Great. Now, I've really got to get going," the Doctor said. "Let me know if you need my help again."

"How will we reach you?" Lestrade asked.

"Sherlock has my number. I'm sure he'd be happy to give it to you if you need it. It's been a pleasure to work will you all. Goodbye, everyone. Oh, and don't try to find out too much about the Silence; that's how the murders started. I'll see you round." He turned away and headed to his TARDIS, which was parked just down the hallway.

"You're gonna love this bit," Watson told Lestrade. The TARDIS faded away as the Doctor left to go on another adventure.


End file.
